Claims
- 1. A messaging system comprising:
an interactive system for production and interchange of messages by users over a network; a topic separator receiving user messages and separating messages according to different topics; and a user interface, coupled to said topic separator, for representing in a distinct way parts of messages that were separated by said topic separator.
- 2. The messaging system as in claim 1, further comprising a time synchronizer for time stamping messages, the topic separator being responsive to said time synchronizer to determine relationships between messages.
- 3. The messaging system as in claim 1, wherein said user interface displays messages in windows according to topic.
- 4. The messaging system as in claim 1, wherein said user interface displays messages in different colors according to topic.
- 5. The messaging system as in claim 1, further comprising a security system to verify a user's identity.
- 6. The messaging system as in claim 5, wherein said security system includes a database of questions from which random questions are posed to a user and whereby verification of validity of answers to posed questions is done by users of the system.
- 7. The messaging system as in claim 5, wherein said security system includes a biometric module for verification of a user's identify.
- 8. A method of conducting a messaging session at a user's computer between two or more users over a network comprising the steps of:
receiving a message over the network from a user; identifying a topic of the received message; determining if the topic of the received message has changed from a previous message; determining if a changed topic is a new topic; and if a new topic, opening a new window to display the received message.
- 9. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 8, wherein if the topic of a received message has not changed, further comprising the step of displaying the received message in a currently opened window.
- 10. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 8, wherein if a changed topic is not a new topic, further comprising the step of displaying the received message in a previously opened window.
- 11. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 8, further comprising the step of identifying a time of a received message, the steps of determining if the topic of the received message has changed from a previous message and determining if a changed topic is a new topic using the time of the received message to determine whether the topic has changed or is a new topic.
- 12. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 8, further comprising the step of checking a user's identity.
- 13. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 12, wherein the step checking a user's identity comprises the steps of asking the user random questions and evaluating the user's answers.
- 14. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 13, wherein the step of evaluating the user's answers is performed by another user.
- 15. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 12, wherein the step of checking a user's identity is performed using biometrics.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The subject matter of this patent application is related to that of application Ser. No. 09/079,754 for “Apparatus and Method for User Recognition Employing Behavioral Passwords”, filed on May 15, 1998, by D. Kanevsky and S. Maes, application Ser. No. 09/108,544 for “Audio/Video Archive and Method for Automatic Indexing and Searching”, filed Jul. 1, 1998, by D. Kanevsky, M. Padmanabhan, A R Zingher, and S. Maes, and application Ser. No. 09/437,971 for “Methods and apparatus for semantic unit based automatic indexing and searching in data archive systems”, filed Nov. 10, 1999, by J C Chen and D. Kanevsky both of which are assigned to a common assignee herewith. The disclosures of applications Ser. No. 09/079,754, Ser. No. 09/108,544, and Ser. No. 09/437,971 are incorporated herein by reference.